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Mike and I visited this medical museum, housed in the old workhouse building next to St. James’s hospital in Leeds. It’s over 20 years since we last visited and its had a bit of a revamp. Lovely cup of tea and scone in the cafe before we even started. The ticket will enable us to visit as many times as we want in the next year. There’s a lot to see and take in. The workhouse became a military hospital during the first world war. What I found particularly interesting was the history of the health of the inhabitants of Leeds and how it has advanced. Anybody who wants to go back to the “good old Victorian Britain” needs their head examining!

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Today I found this in the woods. An explanation again from Secret Leeds

Spackler wrote:In 1861 the headmaster of Woodhouse Grove School agreed with Thornhill Trustees to lay a pipe from two springs in Calverley Wood so to supply pure water to the school. This agreement lasted 34 years. The small reservoir in the wood still remains.

This extract is from the wonderful ‘Guide to the Calverley Millennium Way’ which is available free in the area. I too had been trying to find out what this well/pond was after stumbling upon it. The little guide has loads on the history of the area and is a credit to those who produced it.

CALVERLEY WOODS

I have fallen in love with Calverley Woods. A magical place where my Tolkienesque imagination abounds. A wonderful playground for dogs and humans, with a interesting history. POWs, fireworks, quarries, stone circles and prehistoric markings.

Mighty trees arms stretched wide

Trunks gnarled and smooth

Leaves broad and small

Colours every hue of green and brown

Glades and copses

Paths that wind

Round and round

Up and down

Over roots and boulders

Tunnels of trees and bushes

Glisten in the sunlight and rain

A playground for the imagination.

Below is a small area of the woods. Check out Secret Leeds for more fastinating history about the woods, including descriptions of the explosion at the fireworks factory from people around at the time.

Had a lovely walk this morning in glorious sunshine, over the golf course and through the wood at Paul’s Pond.

The pond drained to repair the dam. Below is some information about it from Councillor Barry Anderson.

REPAIRS TO THE DAM AT PAUL’S POND June 23rd, 2016 I have been advised of the information below by the Council’s Parks Officer:

“On the 4th July we intend to start essential dam works at Paul’s Pond. Since December 2015 we have been monitoring the dam as a small depression was seen by the dam wall close to where the valve chamber is located. In March the situation changed dramatically with a large swallow hole appearing on the other side of the dam path close to the valve chamber. As a result of this we brought in a Reservoir Inspector to look at the situation. The outcome of the survey was a leaking dam wall and emergency repairs required to prevent a breach leading to a loss of the contained water.

Please note that the current position is not life threatening or likely to cause substantial damage to assets.

The works are going to entail: –

An additional valve attached behind the existing valve to have a back-up in case one of the valves fail. A 600mm lowering of the water level to reduce the likelihood of a breach occurring and make the structure safer Removal of all fish from Paul’s Pond The removal of all silt in a 30 metre radius from the valve chamber. The silt will be deposited behind the willows at the south end of the Paul’s Pond in straw bale enclosures. Removal of all vegetation growing out of the upstream face of the dam wall. Stumps to be treated with glyphosate to prevent regrowth. Removal of all trees on the downstream face of the dam to the point of the dam toe. The end result will be a grass banking to facilitate easy checking of the dam structure for leaks and to prevent tree roots compromising the dam structure. All timber to be removed from site, brash chipped and removed as well. Draining Paul’s Pond to enable works to be done on the dam wall. If the leaks are high up it may be possible to avoid a complete drain. Excavate behind the dam wall in the vicinity of the valve chamber to locate the leak points Apply puddling clay and maybe a cement face to the leak areas and backfill with the excavated soil.

For the works to take place the following measures will also be employed: –

Closure of footpaths in the areas of the tree works. Closure of paths in the vicinity of the dam repairs. A temporary enclosure at the south end of the Breary Marsh next to the bridleway entrance from the A660. Welfare facility to be installed, puddling clay stored, temporary stock pile area for felled timber, stone for path remediation works and creating temporary stream crossing. Removal of some trees on the access route to the dam from the above enclosure 600mm pipe covered with crushed stone to enable a safe vehicle crossing at the horse ford in Breary Marsh (On access route to dam) Ecologist to be employed to remove crayfish where the silt traps are to be located below the valve chamber culvert, where the vehicle crossing is to be constructed and from the false stream that runs from the valve chamber to the spillway water channel (this will dry-up when the leak is repaired).”

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Had a fantastic long weekend in London, topped off by my team the Leeds Rhinos winning the Challenge Cup in fantastic blazing style. Brilliant experience – never been before. Amazing stadium and atmosphere. Rugby League fans rub shoulders together without animosity. Friendly banter and fans from all clubs attend making it a really special family occasion.

I cried my eyes out when Danny Jones’s wife sang Abide With Me. Danny died of an undiagnosed heart condition whilst playing for Keighley Cougars against London Skolars earlier this year. He left his wife with twin babies. She is a professional singer and completely stunned the crowd with her singing and courage. We stood, sang with her and cheered and clapped till our hands were sore. Danny would have been so proud.

The rhinos were on fire. They beat Hull KR 50 points to nil. Tom Briscoe made five tries making an all time record.

The Hull KR fans were brilliant, staying to the end and supporting their team. We left the stadium on a high and went to celebrate in London with a few beers.

The sun shining through the leaves make dappled patterns on the soft forest floor.

There are many paths to choose from and is a great place for orienteering. You can ride your mountain bike through here and get a really good workout. There’s plenty of birds and wildlife and its so lovely and peaceful.

Can be very muddy at times, particularly when the bikers have been through.

I loved PETER GREENS FLEETWOOD MAC but after he left they evolved from blues to a perfectly magic formula with Christine McVie, Lindsay Buckingham, Stevie Nicks,John McVie and of course the amazing drummer that is Mick Fleetwood. All such brilliant musicians individually together they are dynamite. A perfect evening in a perfect arena.

So I’ve taught my lovely little guitarists and stop off for a pint at The Barge next to the canal in Rodley. Nice little pub, friendly and always have good selection of real ales. Always feel fine coming here on my own for quiet drink. Rodleys a nice place on the outskirts of Leeds, situated next to the Leeds Liverpool canal. I spend quite a lot of time around here as I have friends who live here or nearby. I have taught in Calverley and Farsley which are great “town villages” that sandwich Rodley – with Rodley being the filling! All three places have a vibrant community with various events taking place throughout the year.

The other pub across the road from the Barge in The Owl. This pub used to be a stonkingly brilliant pub with good food, great beer, events and live music. This was the pub I used to frequent regularly until Enterprise decided to basically to push the rent up so much that the landlady and family were forced to leave. There was a massive campaign in support of her and her family who ran the pub. Television, radio, papers, councillors and MPs all joined in but Enterprise Pub Co stuck its heels in and let her go and it has never been the same since. Such stupidity and stubbornness on the part of the Pubco and is now left with a fairly empty pub. Gina Howard the best landlady anybody could want left and went up the road to Farsley to manage the newly refused Fleece pub. And what an amazing turnaround that has had. It wins Camara awards regularly and is a great success. So your loss Enterprise!

Fantastic weather again-so glad I work part time. Busy day in the garden yesterday, tidying up and seeding lawn. Its very patchy and full of moss. Raking it left a huge pile of moss for the birds building their nests. Here’s half of my garden – it’s only small, with my summer house that I absolutely love and sit in as often as I can and watch the birds on my feeders. We actually jokingly call it my Wendy house! Does anyone know where that name came from for a child’s play house?

Here you can see some of the feeders I have.

And two of my very contented companion animals.

Walking my dog through the woods at Golden Acre park at the weekends is one of my most favourite activities. Watching Sparky hare through the trees after squirrels that he’ll never catch, seeing the birds and rabbits and the new growth as spring really gets going.

These photo’s all taken with my iphone. Pretty amazing piece of kit – I love it! Don’t love itunes though!!

Anyway, click on the thumbnails if you want to see the bigger version in all it’s glory.

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